1st Edition
Universities and Academic Labour in Times of Digitalisation and Precarisation
This book provides a critical perspective on the digitalisation of universities and precarisation of academic labour.
While research and teaching become more virtual and digital at universities, academic labour is becoming more and more casualised and temporary. This book aims to analyse and theorise academic labour and study the experiences academic workers have made at universities that are shaped by economic, political and cultural contexts.
It will be a valuable tool for international scholars and students of subjects such as media, communication and cultural studies, sociology, education, management and labour studies. The insights will also be of particular relevance for unions and other initiatives that are concerned about the working conditions at universities.
Introduction
PART I: British Universities and Academic Labour
1. British Academic Labour, Digital Media and Capitalism
2. Precarious, Always-on and Flexible: How Temporarily Employed Staff Experience the Working Conditions at UK Universities
PART II: German Universities and Academic Labour
3. German Universities and Academic Labour between Neofeudalism and Neoliberalism
4. Interview with Kerem Schamberger about Occupational Bans, Left-Wing Communication Studies and Critique of German Academia
Conclusion
Biography
Thomas Allmer is a research associate in the Department of Media Studies at Paderborn University in Germany. He is also the coordinator of Research Network 18 – Sociology of Communications and Media Research of the European Sociological Association and a co-editor of the open-access journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. His research and teaching are grounded in critical social theory and the political economy of media and communication, with a special focus on digital media and digital labour. His publications include Towards a Critical Theory of Surveillance in Informational Capitalism (2012), Critical Theory and Social Media: Between Emancipation and Commodification (2015) and Academic Labour, Digital Media and Capitalism (co-edited with Ergin Bulut, 2018). Website: http:// thomasallmer.net/
